Scenes We Love: 'Blue Velvet'

What do you focus on more when talking about the "candy colored clown" scene in David Lynch's Blue Velvet: Dean Stockwell's strange performance as Ben or the beautifully somber Roy Orbison song, In Dreams? Usually scenes with Dennis Hopper don't leave room for much else, but we're treated to a colorful cast of other characters that gather at Ben's place, played by Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini, with super creeps Jack Nance and Brad Dourif. But yes, Ben the drug dealing pimp with a bevy of zaftig ladies to do his bidding is indeed the focus of this iconic scene.

Blue Velvet explores many of the themes that Lynch has made a career of; one of them being the sleepy, idyllic American town that hides a sinister underworld. Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) finds a severed human ear and plays investigator with a police detective's daughter (Laura Dern). Their probe entangles them with an alluring but emotionally -- and often physically -- wounded singer (Rossellini) and the nitrous huffing psychopath, Frank (Hopper).

We never learn much about Ben, but we don't need to. Sure, Ben's lounge-tastic outfit and suave gestures aren't particularly suspect, but the fact that Frank adores him leads us to believe he's somewhat terrifying. His clown-like face mirrors that of the song he lip synch's and his dreamy expressions lend a surreal quality to the already bizarre scenario. Stockwell has admitted in past interviews that he took some inspiration for his character from a Carol Burnett persona -- hilarious if you ask me. Hopper of course tops things off with one of his oft-quoted lines, "I'll f*ck anything that moves!" before vanishing and leaving us with an eerie figure slumped over on a sofa. Hit the jump to check out the scene. Make sure you have plenty of PBR on hand.